The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday expelled Ashwini Upadhyay, a member of the National Council, “due to his repeated involvement in anti-party activities” and reported refusal to respond to a showcause notice sent by the party leadership.

This comes after a month after Upadhyay publicly rebelled against the party, levelling allegations on Arvind Kejriwal and the party leadership.

On Sunday, Upadhyay organised a protest, which saw only around 50 people turn up, where Upadhyaya alleged that Kejriwal had entered into a “secret alliance with the Congress”. “They met at a hotel late last year, and a deal was made which would see Yogendra Yadav the Chief Minister of Haryana, Arvind Kejriwal the Chief Minister of Delhi and in return, the AAP will support Rahul Gandhi for the prime minister’s post if there was a hung Assembly,” Upadhyay alleged.

The party, however, summarily rejected any such allegation, saying they were entirely baseless. “We have been forced to expel him as he has been levelling these baseless allegations for close to a month. There was absolutely no such meeting, and these allegations are only a result of him not getting a ticket,” an AAP spokesperson said.

At the gathering called by Upadhyay, a small group of “AAP members” and “concerned citizens” demanded that Kejriwal be removed as national convenor of the AAP and Kumar Vishwas be instated in his place. “Kejriwal does not say anything against Jindal and GMR, but attacks Ambani… He is dangerous and we must vote him out of power,” Hariom Sharma, one of the speakers who alleged that he was a disenchanted AAP member, alleged.